well i've known stella to be quite contradictory myself.....one moment she does that whole PETA PR routine and then i've seen an interview with her in i-D if i remember correctly several years ago where she basically had said,while talking about being vegan that she wasn't perfect,that she makes mistakes. i would normally agree with such a statement but like les sucettes has said,she does have this habit of presenting herself as this exemplary figure for ethical fashion but then we see stuff like that and we read other contrary statements. it just doesn't connect.

There's a story about Gandhi ... a mother and her daughter came to see him. The mother wanted him to tell her daughter to stop overindulging in sweets. He told them to come back in two days. They came back, and he emphatically delivered the message he was asked to. The mother was upset ... we came all the way back here for that?! "Two days ago I was still eating sugar."

All this means is that Stella McCartney isn't Gandhi. Most of us aren't either (including me).

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz

From a purely environmental standpoint, I would think a single pair of leather boots, which can last decades if well-cared for, has less of an impact than the 20 pair of canvas, PVC, or other synthetic plastic boots you would completely wear out and destroy in the same amount of time.

Plastic comes from hydrocarbons--petroleum, mainly--and petroleum oil deposits are from ancient carbon sources--the suffering ghosts of dinosaurs and old biomass. So what difference does it make if the suffering is 6 million years old or 6 years old? All life is suffering--the first noble truth. I wouldn't ask anyone to admit that, though, especially rich people and the soles of their shoes.

When you consider every material thing--be it flesh or plastic or fiber--has involved some suffering of some creature thing along the great eons of time, well, then, drink blood and be merry, I dunno. I am glad no one puts me on the spot because of my footwear.

__________________Pictured above left: her face a mask of stony courage, future Pvt. Eureka Patchouli Jolie-Pitt wins the War on Terror